I need clarification on file extensions

[grits]

Didn't really know which forum to post in, sorry., and I hope I used the proper term in the title.

I'm STILL trying to find an answer to leftovers from an uninstall & when I search for my item I get more results of a different ext. than what I typed in so am wondering if they mean the same thing.

I'm typing in '.inf' but most results come up as '.dll', which to a noob like me doesn't make sense.

Thanks.

 

[kado897]

Not sure what you are getting but the proper way to search for an extension is ext: extension So in you case search for ext: inf

Note you don't include the dot.

 

[Barman58]

The traditional use of a windows .inf file is as a text file that contains information used for installing a program or application. A .DLL file is a set of codes that provide functionality for a program, using a .DLL allows the developer to use a standard routine for controlling printing of file handling. This process is also used by developers to keep the complexity of the program to a minimum By writing a DLL for seldom used operations.

After a program is uninstalled the uninstaller is often set in a conservative mode to prevent the accidental removal of a DLL that may be used by a program still on a system thus causing issues with that program.

In my experience it often dangerous to manually remove any of these leftovers, unless they are causing a specific issue, and even then you should thoroughly research what you are removing.

The remnants of the uninstalled program should only take up a little space and not cause any real issue, removing a needed file may cause more issues.

If you are getting specific issues please post full details and I'm sure someone will be able to help

 

[richnrockville]

DLL stands for Dynamic Link Library
Which several programs can use the library of routines for their program.

Rich

 

[grits]

Sorry, I should know better than to not post more detail. Every time I boot up I get these in my Event Viewer so it fills up in a hurry. This has been happening since I did the uninstall back in August. (I think that's when)

 

[Barman58]

OK something is calling that driver at startup, the best tool for diagnosing start up issues of this type is autoruns, this is a MS tool that shows everything that starts with the system. Am on tablet at present so don't have link to download but a quick search on line should find it, its part of the sysinternals suite of programs but is available foe separate download.

Run the tool and you will see a number of tabs showing the various areas of the system startup,, plus one for everything . search through and un tick all references to the program you removed this may appear in more that one location there is a description of the file and a developer name to a help search any files that do not match the name you have

After un ticking all references , reboot and the entries should be gone, run the system for a while and you can then, once happy that no other issues are there, go back into autoruns right click and actually delete the entries make a note of the actual files and you may, if you wish, delete the actual files that you removed from the a startup list

 

[grits]

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I've been reading up on Autoruns versus WhatInStartup which I've also seen suggested a lot. I'm trying to decide which is safest for a scared-e-cat. Then again am wondering if it's really worth it. Yes, it bugs the dickins out of me that I missed it during the uninstall & that it's adding so much to Event Viewer but not sure it's causing any real problems. As a matter of fact I ran that 'Restart-Time' thing a bit ago & was quite surprised that mine is 52 seconds. Actually it seems like it takes more time to 'Shut down'.
Just call me

 

[kado897]

Autoruns is part of the SysInternals suite and is hosted on an MS site. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/sysinternals

 

[UsernameIssues]

.....Autoruns versus WhatInStartup....
~~~
I'm trying to decide which is safest for a scared-e-cat....

You will need Autoruns for this task.

Autoruns will not make any changes to your system unless you tell it do so... and you have the people in your thread that can help you select the items that need to be changed.

As you can see, the two tools show vastly different things:

 

[Barman58]

The sysinternals suite, and it's major components such as autoruns are well written by people that understand Windows from the ground up, this means that they are as safe to use as possible - however, they do work at a low level and should not be used if you are not confident that you understand what you are doing, as incorrect use may have serious results.

Your caution is understandable and to be applauded - Too many users just plough in without thinking - What you wish to do is possible using the autoruns tool, of course whether you proceed must always be your call, as you rightly say the entries in the logs are an annoyance, rather than a serious problem, and it may be best to just ignore them

 

[Sir George]

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I've been reading up on Autoruns versus WhatInStartup which I've also seen suggested a lot. I'm trying to decide which is safest for a scared-e-cat. Then again am wondering if it's really worth it. Yes, it bugs the dickins out of me that I missed it during the uninstall & that it's adding so much to Event Viewer but not sure it's causing any real problems. As a matter of fact I ran that 'Restart-Time' thing a bit ago & was quite surprised that mine is 52 seconds. Actually it seems like it takes more time to 'Shut down'.
Just call me

Have a look at WinPatrol, it's free and reasonably easy to use without fear of messing up things;

WinPatrol 2013

HTH

 

[kado897]

I have just done a very similar thing with some leftovers from a Paragon uninstall. So far I have just used Autoruns to disable them. After a few days of no problems I will delete the entries.

 

[grits]

Thanks guys, I do feel more confident now, will go ahead & do the Autoruns & VERY CAREFULLY have a look at the results. If I'm not sure of something,I might have to pester you again with questions.

@Sir George, thanks but I tried WinPatrol years ago & found it too confusing for a newbie.

 

[grits]

Finally got it done on Tues. It did find a couple SABKUTIL so I unticked them but haven't yet deleted. I have re-booted 2 or 3 times since & that Error no longer shows in Event Viewer. . I find it hard to believe that there could be a connection, but my machine seems to be slower since then :huh:.

I noticed in the results list from Autoruns that there were different colors but couldn't find explanation on them. There were several pink ones & another gold (same as SABKUTIL). How do I go about investigating them?, maybe start a new thread?

Thanks for your help.

 

[kado897]

Pink is not verified. Yellow is path not found on mine.

 

[Jacee]

SABKUTIL is in c:\program\SuperAdBlocker.com\Super Ad Blocker\SABKUTIL.sys

http://www.superadblocker.com/

 

[UsernameIssues]

Just to add a bit to what kado897 said:

"Not verified" is not necessarily a bad/evil file, it just means there is no certificate encoded into the EXE, DLL, SYS..... Text files are not going to have a certificate to help verify the author of the file... like this VBS text file from Microsoft:



If I rename the file shown in that entry, then there is a mismatch between the entry that says this file should run (in this case, a scheduled task) and what autoruns can file on the hard drive.



The event viewer entries might be telling you that the files cannot be found so some service or app cannot be started.

 

[kado897]

Just to add a bit to what kado897 said:

View attachment 259634

The event viewer entries might be telling you that the files cannot be found so some service or app cannot be started.

That's what happened with me recently. Paragon Backup left some autostart registry entries when it was uninstalled. This showed up as errors in the event log and path not found in autoruns.